Ex-officer sues over gay policy in the military

Recent sodomy ruling spurs lawsuit

July 09, 2003|By New York Times News Service.

WASHINGTON — A former Army lieutenant colonel who was discharged in 1997 for being gay has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the military sodomy statute.

The suit, filed in federal court, is based in part on the recent Supreme Court opinion in Lawrence vs. Texas, which declared that the state's sodomy statute violated the right to privacy. Jon Davidson, senior counsel at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the federal lawsuit was the first to be filed using the landmark court ruling as a precedent.

Loren Loomis, who filed the suit late Monday, said he was seeking to reverse his discharge from the Army and to have his military record corrected.

Loomis was discharged just one week shy of the 20-year career mark that would have entitled him to full retirement benefits after his home was burned down and a firefighter found a videotape of him engaging in sex acts with other men.

The Army discharged Loomis under "other than honorable" conditions, a move that deprived him of pension and benefits that he says are worth more than $1 million.

Loomis appealed his discharge through the military's administrative process, petitioning the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records, but the board declined to reinstate Loomis or award him his retirement benefits.

"A soldier's sex life should be private and protected by the Constitution," Loomis said. "Too often, the Army denies those who have sacrificed in its service the basic protection of law."

Loomis, who now runs a land development company in Albuquerque, said he kept his homosexuality a private matter. It became an issue to the Army only after his home, near Ft. Hood, Texas, was burned down in 1996. The arsonist, a 19-year-old Army private who had posed for nude photographs for Loomis, said he had burned the house to destroy the pictures.

Under the policy introduced by the Clinton administration, the military cannot inquire into a soldier's sex life unless there is clear evidence of homosexual conduct. Men and women who volunteer the information can be discharged.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay rights group that monitors military justice, is assisting Loomis with his case. Group officials say that it is the first to challenge the military's policy for discharging gay soldiers in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.

C. Dixon Osburn, the executive director of the group, said the court's ruling had "a direct impact" on the military's sodomy statute and its ban on gays in the services.

A Pentagon official said the Defense Department general counsel was reviewing the ruling to determine whether it affected the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sodomy remains a court-martial offense under the code, the official said.